How do you know anyone actually needs or wants the stories you write or the products you create?

Design thinking can lead you to the answer. This introductory workshop to Design Thinking (also called Human-Centered Design) is a way of approaching your work through the lens of your audience / user's needs first, rather than an afterthought.

We'll learn about design-thinking and do some group exercises to put those ideas in action so the next time you're making something (be it a story or a piece of software), you can have a good answer to "how do you know anyone wants what you're making?"

Outcome: The result of this workshop is to better understand how to figure out what your audience needs or wants. We'll do some exercises that may lead to ideas that groups may want to extend and make at the hackathon.

Requirements: Slide projector for images, tables and chairs for people to break into groups of 3-5 people. Paper and pens.

Track: xxxxxx

Facilitator: Jennifer Brandel

Time: 2 hours

Level: No skills necessary, this is an introduction to design thinking.

Brandel is CEO & Co-Founder of Hearken, a platform enabling newsrooms to collaborate with the public throughout the journalistic process. She also founded the award-winning series, WBEZ's Curious City and has been multimedia reporting for a decade.